Come visit with me as I stitch and craft my way from one Christmas to the next - I like to have Christmas projects close by me all year. I have a particular fondness for Santas and Angels. If you have the time, leave a comment so I know you've visited.

Thursday, July 16, 2015

I was making up one of the ornaments I had stitched last week. I had just the last side to finish when I decided to have a short break, and sat down at the computer (in the next room) to check on this month's GG posts. Minutes later I heard the sounds of a very happy puppy growling and rough-playing with her toys back in the lounge room. Something made me go and check - too late, unfortunately. Miss Angela had got into my work basket (which was on a box well over a metre (3 foot) from the floor - and was playing with my almost-finished ornament. Luckily she left the needle behind in the basket. This is what I retrieved from her (eventually - she thought it was a great game):

She has not only chewed off some of the edging and inner border beads, she has torn several holes in the stitched design and shredded the seam allowance of the side I hadn't yet stitched. I have no option but to start again. Fortunately for Angela, I love her a lot. And she is still a puppy - almost. It's not the first time she has got away with one of my stitchy projects (though up till now I have always rescued them before too much damage was done), so I have only myself to blame for it. I am going to have to get cleverer about protecting my basket.

Tuesday, July 14, 2015

Well, I sort of met my target for this month, and I have made an impact on my 'to stitch' list. I have had quite a busy month. And apart from my stitching, we had a birthday in the family - Miss Angela turned one. Her favourite Auntie taught her all about party caps and opening presents.

So - the stitching. My target was ten ornaments, and I have stitched and finished 8, and stitched another 4 - so I'm calling that a win! I also stitched and finished two other gift items. These four ornaments, are the ones I have yet to make up. The Christmas tree is for a favourite aunt who likes a bit of Christmas bling, and the other three are for children who will visit me at Christmas time.

The chart for the candy cane (but not the letter T) came from

Alma Lynne's Christmas Alphabets booklet - I did change all the colours

(only because I used floss colours already in my work basket).

The Santa hat alphabet chart was in Alma Lynne's Christmas alphabet booklet (I changed the floss, and removed some of the hats - also changed some of the letters). I adapted the star design from a Dale Burton design, changing the floss colours and adding backstitching.

I also made this pendant (well, made the double-sided cross stitch insert for the pendant), as a gift for a friend.

I also stitched and made up these eight Christmas Tree Christmas ornaments - the first two are for friends (ex-work colleagues) who will visit at Christmas, the other six are for children who will come to see my Christmas house.

And I made this lavender sachet holder for a friend's 50th birthday.

The inspiration for the letter came from the very first cross stitch chart book I ever bought - also the first one I ever saw! - a very old Vanessa Anne booklet.

Size 625 stitches wide x 416 stitches high (66 A4 chart pages, large format). Commenced 1/1/2016. I am stitching on 22 count hardanger, with 2 strands of floss over 1, tent stitch, and I am stitching it sideways, as it was too wide for my frame. My aim is to have it framed and on my wall for Christmas 2020. I have now finished 19 of the 66 pages, and have now stitched 80,546 stitches of the total 260,000 - so it's about 31% completed.

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My Favourite Stitched Santa

This is the largest (and longest) of my many stitching projects over the past 30 years or so. It is HAED JG92105, Jolly Old Fellow (artwork by Dona Gelsinger, charted by Michele Sayetta), which I commenced January 2009, and finished on June 25, 2012. JOF is stitched over 1 on 22 count white hardanger. The charted size is 400 x 509 stitches, but I added 2 stitches to the width, making it 402 wide.